Yet Another Dumb Teenager Falls Into Tortall
by an anonymous geek
Summary: Title tells all. Just read it. Yes, it's got an OC in it; actually, it's got two of them. Warning: major Mary Sue that I'm presently trying to fix. But you all know that deep down, you really do love Mary Sues. SO, READ! It does have romance in it!
1. Prologue

Yet Another Dumb Teenager Falls Into Tortall

by an anonymous geek

A/N: this is based on a true story. *giggles* Okay, so maybe it isn't, but let's pretend it is.

Disclaimer- I don't own nothin'

Prologue

This is the story of the strangest thing that has ever happened to me. It's not your everyday story, so it may be hard to believe me, but it's the truth. Even I was skeptical when it happened to me, and it was right there in front of me. It all happened when I was 17 and very naïve. I must go back to that day when it all happened, many years ago . . .

~ * ~

I ran down the street. I hadn't seen may friend, Sarah, for a long time, so I was heading toward her house to spend the whole day and night with her. I was running, and pretty fast, but I still noticed the shining object in the woods next to me. After I walked over to it, I looked at it closely.

It was a silver amulet, and I knelt down to pick it up. As I did this, I felt a jolt of pain run through me like I never felt before, and everything around me went black.

~ * ~

I awoke outside, in the snow, with a blurry figure above me. After I rubbed my eyes and looked at the person above me, I noticed the figure to be a girl, around my age, with light brown hair and hazel eyes. She was very tall, I noticed, and had major muscles.

"Who are you and where are you from?" asked the girl as she offered me her hand to help me up.

I took the hand and stood up. I felt a small weight on my shoulders and realized I still had my backpack on. I rubbed my head, trying to clear the thousands of questions running through it at that moment. "My name is Lauren Titus, and I'm from Fort Lee, New Jersey."

"New Jersey. I have never heard of that place. You must be a foreigner. How did you get here?"

"I don't know, but could you tell me who you are?"

"My name is Keladry of Mindelan."

That hit me like lightning. I was so shocked. I had read the "Protector of the Small" books when I was small, and had always imitated Kel and tried to be like her. And this girl was claiming to be her. I was sure that either she was mad or she was lying. Or I was mad. "You're not serious, are you?"

She looked shocked, but then covered the look with the blank one that I guessed to be her "Yamani face". "Why would I joke about it?"

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I was now finding this whole thing rather funny. "And I guess we're in Tortall, aren't we?" I asked sarcastically.

Kel didn't seem to catch my sarcasm, so she answered truthfully. "Yes."

"Well, isn't this just going to be dandy?" Kel gave me another strange stare and I laughed. "So I guess at this point you're a squire, right?"

"Yes."

"And we're right outside the palace, correct?"

Again she simply said, "Yes."

"Well, aren't you gunna introduce me to Neal and the gang? They are here for Midwinter, right?" I asked, once again sarcastically. I was sure that this was all a joke.

She looked at me even more strangely. 

"How do you know about Neal? I thought you were a foreigner. Wait . . . you're a seer, aren't you?"

"You might say that. It's getting pretty cold out here, how about we go into this little palace of yours and warm up by a fire, eh?"

"Alright." Then she led me inside the palace.

~ * ~

After we had talked for a while, and I had told Kel all about Earth (she did not believe a word of what I was saying, just as I didn't believe a word that she was saying), we decided to get something to eat. We both realized how hungry we were once we walked into the mess hall, so we both put a lot of food on our trays and headed over to where Kel's friends sat.

I was staring at everything around me. It was exactly how I had imagined it. Only better. More real. As Kel and I walked over to the squires' part of the mess hall, my jaw dropped. I recognized Neal as soon as I saw him. He turned to us and smiled at Kel, then turned to me with a confused look on his face.

"Kel, who's this?" he asked.

I realized then that I must look really strange to them. I was wearing jeans and a green Old Navy shirt. Yes, I must have looked very weird.

"This is Lauren Titus. She's a foreigner from New Jersey."

I smiled. This was all really humorous. Just then, a tall man who looked as if he were my age, walked over. He had blond hair that looked almost white, and he had ice blue eyes. He was very handsome, I had to admit, but I knew who he was, so I wasn't fooled by his good looks. "Oh, look, here comes Joren the Jerk," I said in a fake whisper. I wanted to see if it would tick him off. It did. I took pleasure in the angry look on his handsome face.

"So, I see you've brainwashed her, Mindelan."

Kel, who was still shocked at my knowing about Joren, said, "She's a seer, or like one anyway. This has nothing to do with me. Obviously, she knows all about you."

Then I chimed in, with a cocky smile on my face, "Of course I do."

He scowled at me, then Kel, then walked away.

I started laughing. "He really is annoying, isn't he?"

Kel and her friends smiled.

"Joren the Jerk? I like it. It suits him real well. And it has a nice ring to it," said Neal.

I think it was then that they accepted me.

~ * ~

I walked out of the mess hall alone and heard a sneering voice behind me. "Who are you anyway? Another wench like Kel?"

I almost giggled, but I held it back and kept a serious look on my face. "Ohhh, what a beautiful name for me. You always come up with the sweetest things to say, Joren darling," I said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

It had the intended effect. He scowled.

"Scowls really don't become you, Joren. I would have thought from all those hours spent looking in the mirror, you would have noticed that already."

Deeper scowl. Then he grabbed me and tried to throw me against the stone wall. But I was fast. Instead of hitting the wall, I threw my legs up in front of me, they hit the wall hard, and then I flipped over. I now stood across from Joren, ready to fight him. 

Thankfully, when I had been going through that whole I-want-to-be-a-lady-knight phase, my parents had let me take lessons, and I was now an excellent swordsman, archer, and wrestler. I was great at hand to hand combat. He aimed a punch at my head, and I quickly ducked. I threw my leg up to kick him in the stomach, but he grabbed it and twisted. I fell to the ground. I got up quickly and punched him in the stomach.

He put his arms around his stomach, trying to ease the pain, and I took this moment of confusion to punch his face. I knew he was going to have a pretty bad black eye later. Then he pushed me to the ground. We kept punching each other till we were both covered with bruises. Then I pinned him. This must have shocked him dreadfully. I decided that this was not the time to gloat, or else he would really rip off my head later, when I was out of strength because of this fight.

I offered him my hand. I knew he was going to pull me down, but I was fairly strong. As he tried to pull me down, I held my ground. Then he decided it wasn't worth it and he stood up.

I looked around us and noticed that we had attracted a large crowd. Neal stood in the front, with a shocked look on his face. "You beat Joren?"

I shrugged. I didn't like praise or anything, so I just decided to be humble, even though I was feeling pretty good about it. "I must admit that Joren is really good." This seemed to calm him down a little bit. But only a little and it did not make much difference. He was steaming with rage. He walked away, and I let him. I didn't want to make him any angrier with me, because I was really starting to feel the pain in my body now.

~ * ~

Later that day, after word was out about me, I was summoned by the king. I was awestruck by King Jonathon, because I had read so much about him, too. I told him who I was and how I had come here. I did mention that I knew almost everything about the future of Tortall. He was very interested in this, but he was soon called away by greater needs. One good thing came of it though: I was given a good room in the palace.

After I walked out of the meeting, I went to my room. I changed out of my jeans and t-shirt, and into some simple breeches and a white shirt. I was quite fond of the Tortallan clothes. Then I walked outside, with my backpack that I had brought with me from Earth, and I sat on a bench.

I pulled my portable CD player out of my backpack, put my Third Eye Blind CD in, closed my eyes, and listened. The music made me think of home. I missed my family, primarily because I was almost positive I would never see them again. Before I could get any more homesick, I opened my eyes.

In front of me stood Joren. I was really scared because I thought that he might kill me right then and there. He must have noticed my fear, because he put a smirk on his face. "Not so cocky now, are you? Now that you don't have too much strength left."

This ticked my off. I wanted to rip his head off, and I attempted to. I think this actually surprised him. The only girl he was used to fighting with was Kel, and she was _way _calmer than I was. We fought, much like before, but this time he pinned me. I was out of strength and couldn't move. He held out his hand to help me up, and I took it without trying to pull him down so I could beat the heck out of him. I was much too tired. I sat down on the bench and pulled the headphones over my head. I noticed that Joren still stood there.

"What is it now?" I asked, really getting annoyed.

"What is that thing?" He said this with a tone that suggested that it was some torture device, not a CD player.

"It's a CD player."

He gave me a strange look.

"It plays music."

Another strange look.

"Look, do you want to listen?" I didn't wait for him to answer. I got up and shoved the headphones on his head. I smirked. This was going to funny. I was going to get a kick out of this. Once I had turned on the CD player, I waited for his reaction. He jumped as the music started. I giggled. Of course he hadn't heard anything like this before. He was used to ballroom music and sweet and slow ballads sung by people with amazing voices. Quite boring. The volume was turned up really high and I could hear "I want somthin' else" coming from it.

He seemed to like the music, surprisingly. At the end of the song, he took the headphones off and handed them to me.

"How does that work?" he asked me.

I tried to figure out how to explain this to a person who had never seen a CD player before in his life. "Well, someone sings a song, and a machine commits it to memory, then converts it onto these discs so that this machine can play the music," I said, taking the CD out and showing it to him.

"Is this some sort of magic?"

"No. In my world we don't have the same sort of magic as you do."

He gave me another one of his strange looks and walked away. I shrugged and put the CD back in the CD player and turned it on again and started listening to it.

~ * ~

A/N: Okay, I know this is a little weird, but I kinda like the whole idea of Joren listening to CDs. hehe. Tell me if you like it and if you want me to continue it.


	2. Chapter One

Another Dumb Teenager Falls Into Tortall

by an anonymous geek

A/N: okay, I wanna let ya guys know that the last chapter was a result of too much sugar! hehe. It was definitely really crappy! But, I'll be nice to those who actually liked it and write another chapter, although it won't be as strange. Oh, and I want to let ya know that the character that I have here is not really me. She isn't based entirely on me, only somewhat, like the way she acts, and she listens to the same music as me. BTW, that song that I mentioned in the last story is Semi-charmed Life from Third Eye Blind. Awesome song! 

Okay, my friend Sarah told me to put more of her in my stories, and I will in this one, so don't be confused when she shows up. Remember, in the prologue, my character dude was on her way to her friend Sarah's house? Yup, that's her. I end up putting her in all my stories. hehe. 

Christie- thanks, I'm glad you like me story. I hope you like this chapter.

Writer's Dream- thanks *blushes* I didn't think it was good at all, but I'm flattered all the same.

Alexis of the Westlands- well, you'll have to find out if they become a couple. hehe. I love these kinds of stories too, and I recommend Disapproving Fate by Call Me Nobody. She wrote a really good one.

Anastazia Silverwind- OF COURSE THIS IS A MARY SUE!!! Mary Sues rock! totally! And I would like to let you know that you have got it all wrong: she won't be put into training, and you'll see in later chapers (if you end up reading them) that she isn't really that nice, and I don't think I'm gunna have Kel hate her.

the FLAMER- no comment. the things I could say right now would be too vulgar for a pg rated story.

Mamma Duck- I can't believe you read this story! EMBARRASSMENT! (to those who don't know, Mamma Duck is my sister)

OKAY, on with the stupid story. . .

Chapter One

[Fort Lee, New Jersey. Lauren's friend, Sarah, is looking for Lauren]

Sarah was worried. Lauren was supposed to have arrived at her house hours ago. Lauren's parents had said that she had left the house at around 5:30 pm, and Sarah's house was only five minutes away. As Sarah once again walked through the path that Lauren would have taken through the forest that separated the two girls' houses, she noticed a shiny object in the dirt not far from the path. She walked over to it, and looked at it. It was a silver amulet, and it looked very expensive. As she knelt down and touched it, she felt a jolt go through her body, and she, too, fell into the darkness.

[Back to Lauren]

I practiced swordplay with Neal every day. He was as very good opponent, and always beat me at it. Although I was good at wrestling, I was not at all an expert at sword fighting. I could never quite get the gist of it, but through these practices, I was getting better and better, but still not great. Having good arm muscles was a great help. After so much practice in wrestling, my arms had grown really strong, but I was still not as swift as Neal. Time after time we fought, and time after time he won. In my spare time I fought with Kel, behind Neal's back, because I wanted to get better and better until at last I would beat Neal. But it seemed hopeless. While I was getting better, he was improving also. There was no chance at all that I would catch up to him.

As we fought, I kept on trying to figure out where his weaknesses were. So far, I saw none. But then, all the sudden, I saw an opening. It was clear as day. As he lifted his sword up for a lunge at me, I saw that he did not have the correct positioning. I could easily thrust my sword under his, twist, and therefore disarm him. I did so, and I held the edge of my sword against his neck.

I could see from his face that he was completely shocked. Smugly, I smiled at him, and to my surprise, he didn't get angry, but smiled back, and said, "I yield, Lady Lauren." I took my sword away and sheathed it. All the sudden, I received a vision. 

Near the practice courts of the palace stood a tall girl. She was a very pretty girl with long dark brown hair and blue eyes, and she looked at her surroundings with confusion. She was lost.

Then the vision disappeared. I knew that girl, but I could not quite place her. Then it came to me. That girl was Sarah. Without thinking, I ran to the place that the vision had said she was. Sure enough, Sarah stood there, shaking her head, as if to clear some thoughts.

"Sarah!" I yelled to her.

She looked at me in shock. "Lauren? Where are we and what the heck are you wearing?"

I smiled at her. "We're in Tortall."

"WHAT? Where the heck is that?"

I then remembered that she had never read the books. "Remember that obsession I used to have over Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anythin'?"

"Well, we are in Tortall, the place where she's from."

Sarah had an incredulous look on her face. "Yeeeeeaaaaah. Come on, Lauren. Really! Do you think I'm really that gullible?"

"I'm serious!" Just then, Neal caught up with me. He looked at Sarah, and then gave a questioning look at me.

"Sarah, this is Nealan of Queenscove. Neal, this is my friend, Sarah." Sarah looked at me in surprise.

"You mean this is the guy you-" I gave her a warning look and she stopped. Neal reached over and kissed her hand.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Lady Sarah."

Sarah blushed. "It's nice to meet you, too."

What Sarah had been about to say before was "this is the guy you used to have an obsession over". It was indeed true. I had a terrible problem with guys in books. Every book I read, I'd always develop a crush on a guy in it. In this case, it was Neal. But I certainly didn't want him to know that.

Neal interrupted my thoughts. "I understand that you two probably have a lot of catching up to do, and I need to talk to Kel. So, if you will excuse me, I will take my leave."

"Goodbye, Neal. I'll see you later," I said as he walked away. Then I turned to Sarah. She was about to explode.

"Dude, is he handsome or what?!"

I laughed. "Now you understand why I like him so much."

She laughed too. "Anyway, this is where you've been. Everybody's been lookin' for you for hours."

"Hours?" I asked her in confusion.

"Yes, hours. You've been gone for a while."

I was now really confused. "But it's been about a month here."

Now it was her turn to look confused. She shook her head and said, "Maybe it's just like those Narnia books. Maybe these two worlds have separate times."

"I guess you're right, but it's still rather strange."

"Being HERE is strange enough," she said.

"That's for sure. At times I don't even believe it myself! Well, let me show you around, and explain to you what's been happening the past month."

She nodded, and we walked out of the practice courts.

~ * ~

K, dudes. I'm sorry that this was really short, but I'll write more, and then I'll put in adventure and fluff! YUP! *dances around the room* Fluff Fluff Fluff Fluff Fluff Fluff Fluff. Okay, i need to stop! hehe. so, review! Yuppers.


	3. Chapter Two

Yet Another Dumb Teenager Falls Into Tortall

by an anonymous geek

A/N: ya know, writing this fic has really made me depressed. I wanna go to Tortall!!

Sorry, I'm a freak and I've fallen in love with Neal, Joren (ya gotta love that jerk), Jon, George, Gary, Dom, and tons of other guys made up by the O-so-brilliant-Tamora Pierce. Let's bow down and worship her. JK. lol. I'm odd, plus I'm unloved.

I am so unpopular! Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I'm not gunna eat a worm, but I should! I also look like a dung-covered monkey. *sighs* AAAAAAANNYYYway, I'm in love with half a million guys, and most of them are made up people, and the rest are actors that I will not even MEET! A select few are people I've seen before and don't even know their names. My life stinks. 

Whoa, once again I went into my total self-pity mode!

NOTICE TO KEL/JOREN FANS: if you wanna read some good kel/joren stories, I recommend "Disillusionment" by Arimel and "They Danced Anyway" by Machiavella of Kingsport. Those are awesome stories. or you could check out "When the Unexpected Happens" written by the O-so-talented me! yeah, RIGHT!

NOTICE TO KEL/NEAL FANS: if ya wanna read a good kel/neal story, I recommend "Warrior Soul" by Silksteel. That story makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over! OR, you could check out the first chapter of "Everybody Loves Kel" by me! or "Mission:Undercover" by me

NOTICE TO KEL/DOM FANS: hmm, I don't read much of these, so I only have a few, but they're both good. There's "Lady Kel" by, oh, great, I might get this wrong, Lady Bee? Did I get that right? Was the story name right? Gee, I dunno. Wait, no, was that one a Kel/Neal? I can't remember! aaaaaahhhh! My memory is leaving me. This is what comes from school. ANYWAY, there's also "A Yamani Warrior" by PsychoLioness13 (I think that's her name). OR, you could check out the third chapter on "Everybody Loves Kel" written by me. But that one sucks.

If I forgot one of your excellent stories, please tell me in the review and i will broadcast it on the next chapter! Okies?

Okay, on with the chappie. . . 

WARNING: this chappie's gunna be fluffy. hehe. just wanted to warn ya. 

disclaimer- I don't own nothin' (wow, that one's gettin' mighty old)

Chapter Two

[Lauren's POV]

After Sarah had been introduced to everyone, including the king, I started to wonder if anyone else would be brought into this wondrous land. A few days after Sarah had come, I started to notice a difference in Neal. He seemed a bit more nervous all the time, especially in the company of Sarah. She, of course, seemed to be oblivious to all of it, but I came up with the strange theory that Neal like Sarah in a romantic way. He was always really civil and gentle around her, not that he wasn't anyway, but it seemed as if he were doing everything for her. I personally thought it was rather cute. Sarah obviously was smitten with Neal; she had been ever since she had met him, and he seemed to be hopelessly in love with her. This is just too perfect. I couldn't pass this up; I needed to do something. I confronted Kel with my ideas. I found her in her room, reading a book. 

"Kel?"

She looked up. "Yes."

"Well, have you noticed Neal's change in behavior lately?"

She sat up straight and put the book down. "Yes." 

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I might be."

"I've got an idea."

Kel smiled. "This sounds interesting. Tell me your plan."

~ * ~

[Sarah's POV]

I was sitting in my room, reading a book, when Lauren burst in. She had tears all over her face. "Sarah," she said.

I stood up abruptly. "What is it?" I asked urgently.

"It-it's Neal. He's been hurt bad. I think he may be dying." My whole world crashed down around me when I heard those words. Neal. . .was dying! "He's in the healer's infirmary. Go to him. I need to go tell the others." I ran out of the room, not hearing Lauren's cackling.

As I ran into the healer's ward, I became really confused. Where was everybody? Suddenly, the door burst open, and Neal came running in. "Neal?" I asked. He looked perfectly fine to me.

"Sarah?" His eyes were wild, as if he had just heard something very disturbing and terrible. "You're-you're alive?!"

"I could ask the same thing." We both stood there, staring at each other, trying to figure out the problem. Then it clicked. "Lauren, that dirty little idiot! Oh, she is SO going to get a beating when I get my hands on her!"

Neal looked at me, a small smile on his face. "What?"

I almost screamed in rage. "That-that girl is the worst excuse for a human being! She lied to me and told me that you were dying! Of course, she always was a good actress. I should've known. So she told me that you had been hurt and were dying, so I ran all the way down here and-"

"I never knew you cared that much," Neal said, looking at me intently, with a look in his eyes that made me feel REALLY uncomfortable.

"Well, umm," I looked down at my feet, then continued and said, "Why are you here?"

He smiled. "Same thing, practically. Kel came to me and told me YOU were dying. Those two must have been in on it together. That would explain their little mischievous faces all today. I should've guessed that they were up to something."

There was a long time of silence, then he continued, "Well, we might as well go to them and give them a piece of our minds."

I smiled, "That sounds good to me."

We walked over to the door, and I twisted the knob, but it wouldn't move. I did it again, with the same result. Neal tried it too, but it wouldn't work with him either. He tried to open it with his magic, but it was a really complex spell that had been put on it. 

"Those girls! They probably got Numair in on this too, to put this spell on the door," I said, angered. Then it clicked in my mind. Lauren was trying to set us up! Now I was completely enraged. I leaned against a wall and rubbed my head to ease a headache that had just formed. Neal noticed my discomfort, and held his palm up against my forehead, and green fire gently eased the pain.

"Thanks," I said, blushing, conscious of the fact that his face was so close to mine. He looked at me with a really strange look in his gorgeous green eyes. I couldn't look away. My eyes were locked with his. He pushed back a stray hair that had fallen from my braid and into my face. The sensation of his skin touching mine made me shiver. We were still really close to each other, and before I could know it, that space in between us had vanished and his lips touched mine in a gentle, but passionate, kiss. 

~ * ~

Ew, Ew, EW! I do NOT like writing fluff, well, actually I do, but sometimes it's just sickening, since I write it all the time.

In the next chapter, the plot will start, I hope. I just needed to get this little romance in, 'cuz Sarah's been shrieking at me to put more on. She just finished the first book, and now is madly in love with Neal. I'm proud to say that it was THIS story that had convinced her to read the POTS books.

HAPPY, SARAH? enough romance for you?

oh, yeah, and Joren comes back in the next chappie. OOO, I love that jerk sooo much. I just can't help it. I've always had a weakness for hot evil blond guys. lol.


	4. Chapter Three

Yet Another Dumb Teenager Falls Into Tortall

by an anonymous geek

A/N: I'm so sorry, guys. I meant to make it clear, but I forgot to. I know I said that Lauren was really good at all those things I mentioned, but what I meant was that on earth she was better than most people. But in Tortall, the land of knights, she's actually pretty low in the rankings. That was why she was so surprised and happy when she beat Neal at sword fighting. 

I want to apologize for all the fluff in the last chapter. It was all for Sarah. She was screamin' at me, and so I wrote it for her. check out her stories. she now has two Tamora pierce stories. her penname is morfalasiel22.

also, check out the stories of my other friends, bea2688 and Joslyn Sparrow

they also have Tamora pierce stories.

Reviewers- I love you guys so much! You guys just totally make my day. I practically live for reviews.

I FINISHED TRICKSTER'S CHOICE!!! dun worry, I'm not going to talk about it now. i dun wanna give anything away. hey, you guys who've read it, please email me, and then i can email back and we can discuss it, since I dun know anyone who has read it so I can't talk about it to anyone. my email address is lightninggirl21@yahoo.com

On with the story. . .

disclaimer- I may be extremely jealous, but it doesn't change the fact that it was the genius known as Tamora Pierce who made up Tortall and all the wonderful characters (wow, that seems a lot like cytosine's disclaimers on her tamora pierce stories)

Chapter Three

[Lauren's POV]

I walked down the hallways, proud of myself. I had successfully brought together two people who were too frightened to admit that they were in love with each other. Now that they were officially courting, I knew my job was done. But why had I been sent here in the first place? What could I do that someone else could not? 

I had a suspicion that the gods were somehow involved, so one day I left the palace and reached an open field. For a few moments I just stood there, then I lost my patience and screamed out, "Come on, you know I'm waiting for you! Talk to me! I know you're behind this!"

Suddenly, there was a flash of an extremely bright light. I covered my eyes to shut it out.

"What is it you desire to know, my daughter?" asked a voice that was far too strong for my ears. I quickly forgot my eyes and instead covered my ears with my hands. As I opened my eyes, I saw a figure in front of me. It was a female, extremely beautiful with green eyes filled with mirth.

"Why did you send me here?" I asked her.

"You have a mission."

"What kind of mission?" This was starting to sound interesting.

"There is one you must save. He is powerful, yet is hateful. You know of whom I speak."

I paused for a moment. "Joren?"

"Yes, my daughter."

"But-" I protested, "but, why me? I'm no better than anyone else."  


"Lauren, you are the Chosen One who is spoken of. The one who will help Tortall and bring it to great power, as it is said in the old prophecy:

"One shall come, from a far away land. My Chosen One she shall be; she shall come to help when help is what is needed. She shall restore one that would have been lost. She shall bring power to the land which I have chosen. Her power will be great and all the peoples shall praise her."

It took me a while to comprehend all this. When I looked up, I saw that the goddess had left. _I _was a _Chosen One_? I was the reject girl. I was the freak with strange obsessions. I was the. . . The list could go on forever. I was not the one who could be important. Being strange and stupid had always been my specialty, not being the one with responsibility. And then there was Joren. How was I supposed to help him? I would probably never see him again, though this prophecy said otherwise. AND, I didn't even _want_ to see him. I knew that he was a terrible person; he had always been mean to Kel, and Kel was my idol. She was my hero, and I wanted to be exactly like her.

Somewhere in my mind I knew that I had always slightly liked the character of Joren. He was a jerk, that was obvious, but there was also something intriguing about him. Maybe it was the fact that he went so far and tried so hard to get Kel to leave. It was his persistence. Still, how was I supposed to save him? That question kept on bothering me as I walked back to the palace. Once inside my room, I shut the door and laid down on my bed. Then I immediately fell asleep, and dreamed of many people praising a great heroine who stood on a podium and smiled and waved at the people.

. ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ .

I woke up in the morning, starved. I hadn't had anything to eat since yesterday morning. Quickly, I dressed and ran to the mess hall. After I had collected my food, I walked over to the table where Kel and her friends usually sat. No one was to be seen. They had probably eaten already. After all, it was already about an hour till noon. As I sat down by myself, I thought about what the goddess had told me, and wondered where I would find Joren. As if on cue, a tall, muscular blond man walked into the mess hall and grabbed a tray for his food.

I panicked. What was I to do? He would never want to talk to me. He probably wasn't even aware of my existence. Why me? Why did I have to be the Chosen One? Right then I decided that I had been much better off on earth. To my great surprise, Joren headed towards me. Still, I panicked. What would I say? Should I tell him about the prophecy? How would he react?

As he slid into the chair opposite me, I looked up at him. His face was grim, and he looked very unhappy. Why me? We sat there in silence for a moment, then he smiled, which surprised me greatly, and said, "Hello, Lauren."

"Uh, Joren-"

"If you're going to tell me about the prophecy, you needn't. Let's just say I was visited by a little messenger last night."

"The goddess? What did she say?"

"Oh, she told me that there was some prophecy that you needed to fulfill that somehow connected to me, and you needed to make me into a better person and whatnot."

"Oh." I looked down at my food, not knowing what to say.

After awhile, he said, "Lauren, what would have happened to me?"

"What?"

"How would I have died?"

"Oh, well, in the books all it said was that you were found on the floor of the Chamber, dead. Then your father started swearing at Kel. That was about it."

He chuckled, but not in an exactly happy way, it sounded more evil than good to me. "It sounds like my father."

I nodded. Then I stood up. "I guess I need to go. I'm going to go see what Kel is up to." Joren's eyes darkened when I mentioned Kel. "Joren, why do you hate her so much?"

He looked me in the eye and said, "I still don't believe that women should be fighting. That's not their place."

"Even after you've seen what they can do? I mean, I could understand if you thought that they weren't better at men at fighting, but really, you should be easier on women. Also, they can beat men at times."

He looked at me and scowled. "Once a woman proves to me that she is worthy of holding a sword, then I will give up my hatred. Only then." He left the room and I sighed. There was no changing his mind. I would just have to prove him that women could be warriors. But how? I was no great warrior, compared to these people. The only person I had ever beaten at sword fighting was Neal, and that was after much practice. Practice. That was what I needed. My muscles groaned from my exercises that I had to do all the time to keep in shape, but I would force myself harder and prove to Joren that women could fight, since he was blind to the fact that Alanna and Kel were better fighters than most men. I would start this afternoon; it was the only way. "Thank you, Goddess," I muttered sarcastically under my breath as I walked out of the mess hall and headed toward the practice courts.

. ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ .

Email me at lightninggirl21@yahoo.com please!!!!


	5. Chapter Four

Yet Another Dumb Teenager Falls Into Tortall

by an anonymous geek

Disclaimer: Do you really think I'm Tamora Pierce?

Chapter Four

[Lauren's POV]

I started working on "Plan A" a week later. However, it did take me a while to figure out was "Plan A" was going to be. I knew that I needed to show Joren that women could fight well, but how was I going to do that? Then it came to me. I find that I can be quite a genius at times, but at this point I was just acting like a, as my friend/enemy Brian would say, "Master of the Obvious". I would duel Joren. It was plain and simple. Now, whether to duel to the death or just in practice was the real question at hand. I finally decided that to the death would be best. However, this made me quite worried. I was not a real, what you might call, "chicken", but I also did not like running into things where my own death was at stake. In the end I realized that it was either my own death or Joren's (at which point I readily realized that it was my own life that was more important) but then was quite assured by my conscience (we regularly have nice long conversations with each other) that the gods would not be too happy if I did not fulfill my prophecy, not even including all the people of Tortall. I would soon be on the Most-Hated List of Tortall, and I definitely value my reputation more than my life (I know it sounds weird, but it's true).

Then there was the problem of getting Joren to agree with this duel. I couldn't exactly go up to him and insult his mother, could I? I didn't think that it was exactly a respectful thing to do. I didn't really want an enraged Joren running at me. It would be quite a messy business. I don't know if they would be able to scrape me off the walls. There had to be a much easier way. I finally decided that the best way would be to pretend to hate him and make him hate me. Then he would force me to duel him, and I would just have to oblige. However, after a few moments of thinking about this, I realized that I was trying to make Joren a better person, and by making him hate me, I was actually making him a worse person.

I knew that I could always go up to him and just ask him for a duel. That could always work, but I didn't know if he would want to, and then if he refused (though I doubt he would, his pride was at stake, but there was always a chance) he might realize the plan that I had in mind and everything would be ruined. As I thought about all of this, I gradually began to exit the palace and walk through the city of Corus. Then, just like it had before, a vision came to me. I saw a dark alley somewhere deep in the city, where no one dared lurk for there seemed to be dark magic around. In this alley, there was a small glimmer of light, and I somehow felt drawn to this light. As suddenly as the vision came, it passed, and I was left with the knowledge of where this light had come from and I knew that I needed to find it.

Quickly, I started running through the city, my feet leading me places I knew I had never been through before, yet for some strange reason, I knew where I was going. It was if I was watching myself from afar, and my soul was no longer attached to my body. I was drifting away, and then suddenly I found myself in that same dark alley. For some strange unknown reason, I didn't stop to think about how weird this was, I just walked toward the light that was steadily penetrating the darkness around me. I looked down and saw a very familiar silver amulet. It was then that I realized that this was my portal through which I might be able to return to earth.

By now, I was smart enough not to touch the amulet with my fingers, or else I would be thrown into another world, and who even knew if it would be earth that I would be thrown into? It could always end up being some other strange land. I pulled part of my sleeve over my hand and picked up the amulet. At first, I felt a sudden immense feeling of power that tugged at my soul, but then I started to hear a song that was being sung in a language that I did not understand. The voice that sang the song was the most beautiful and angelic that I had ever heard before and I felt myself being drawn to this music. However, deep down inside I knew that I needed to stop the music before it pulled away my soul completely. Therefore, I dropped the amulet in a pocket and immediately, the song went away and I could not hear it anymore. Once again, I had the feeling of not really being in my body, and suddenly, I was back in the center of the city. I shook my head to recover from the shock of everything happening, then I returned to the palace.

.~ * ~ . ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ .

I quickly ran to the spot in the Mess Hall where Sarah sat and I sat next to her. She jumped up in surprise and then sat back down again when she saw who I was.

"Lauren? What's the matter?" she asked me, and I realized that she must have noticed the bewildered look on my face. I took out the amulet, careful to make sure that no part of my skin touched it. She gasped. "That's the amulet that brought me here!"

"I know, it brought me here too. I think this can bring us back to earth!" I smiled at her, but she returned it with a frown and tried to look away. I noticed her discomfort and asked, "What? What's wrong? Don't you want to go back?!" She looked me in the eye for a moment and then shook her head. Now I was really confused. Then I began to comprehend the matter. She didn't want to leave Neal. 'We could always bring him with us!' I told myself, but inside I knew that Neal was not meant to go to earth. He belonged here in Tortall, as did Sarah. I nodded and closed my eyes in thought. My mind drifted away to oblivion as I tried to work things out. After what seemed like years, I felt a strong hand shake my shoulder.

I opened my eyes and realized that I was still in the Mess Hall and so was everyone else. No time had seemed to pass at all. As I rubbed my head, someone I knew all too well started speaking to me.

"Lauren? Have you a plan yet?" Joren asked. "Tonight's my Ordeal!"

It came as quite a shock to me, and I did not believe it at first. "What?! Your Ordeal's not for days! What are you smoking?" He gave me a weird look at my question. Then Sarah decided to butt into the conversation.

"Marijuana," she answered. "Hence the blank stare." Both of us burst into laughter at the expressions on Joren and Neal's faces when she said this. They, of course, had no clue of what we were talking about.

After I recovered from my laughing fit, I answered Joren's question. "I don't have any plans yet. You know, you could always just run away!" Joren looked appalled at this suggestion. In fact, he looked like he was going to hit me for even thinking of such a thing. Before he could do this, though, I said, "Hey! It was just a suggestion, no need to get offended."

He seemed to calm down a little. "Well, I need to leave soon, for the ceremony will start in half an hour." Then he left, leaving me practically pulling my hair out in exasperation. HALF AN HOUR!! How in the world was I going to figure something out before then?? I then reminded myself that he didn't enter the chamber until very early in the morning, so I didn't need to freak out until then. 'That's no consolation,' I told myself as I started running toward my room.

Once inside, I sat down on my bed and thought as hard as I could about the problem in front of me. What was I going to do? After a few minutes, I felt myself drifting off into a long, dreamless sleep.

. ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ .

I woke up to a dark room. For a moment, I just lay on my bed, thinking of nothing in particular. But, for some unknown reason, I felt as if I needed to be doing something. The feeling soon became more and more urgent. It was then that I remembered Joren. I jumped out of bed and pulled on my old jeans and green shirt that I had worn on the day that I had arrived here. Then I took a piece if cloth and wrapped it around the amulet. I did not know why I did this, I only knew that I needed to do it. After I had put the amulet in my pocket, I ran through the halls of the palace, once in a while bumping into a servant who was in the way. Finally, I opened a pair of doors and found myself in a dark room. A priest was leading someone through a door.

"NO!!!" I shouted, hoping I wasn't too late. Both the priest and Joren stared at me, and I took the time of shock to grab Joren's arm and pull him out of the Chamber, which he was just starting to enter.

"What are you doing?" Joren demanded of me, but I ignored him. I just pulled the amulet out of my pocket. I kept a good grip on Joren and took off the wrappings that covered the bright object. Then I wrapped my whole free hand around it and once again felt the strange sensation of traveling through time and space. This time, though, I had a heavy person that I was dragging along with me. Then, like it did before, everything went black.

. ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ . ~ * ~ .

There it is! I finally got a chapter up!!!! Merry Christmas everyone!

~Kristin


	6. Chapter Five

Yet Another Dumb Teenager Falls Into Tortall

by an anonymous geek

_A/N: OMG, it has been SO long since I've updated any of my stories. I have finally re-entered the world of Tamora Pierce fanfiction. Now, I've got tons of excuses for not updating (which include [but are not limited to] visiting a foreign country, my computer breaking down, demonic teachers giving me loads of homework, loss of interest in Tamora Pierce, and creating about a million other pennames). _

_I just revisited the Tamora Pierce section and was sad to notice that none of the old gang (which includes my old reviewers and old favorite authors) are there anymore. SO, I'm hoping that if I start updating, they will show up too. What the hell happened to Kelly Masbolle? [To Kelly, if she's reading this for some reason] Why haven't you been updating??!! You seriously need to!_

_Okay, enough of my rantings, and on to the story..._

_Disclaimer- What's the use of writing these things? It's obvious that I don't own anything... but, I guess that I have to use my traditional line, "I don't own nothin'"._

Chapter Five

Darkness swirled around my head as I tried to regain consciousness. My head hurt like hell. Where was I? What just happened? Why couldn't I think straight? Those thoughts ran through my mind as my vision started to return. At first, all I saw was blurs, but then my vision finally cleared, and I saw that I was in the middle of some forest. I attempted to get up, but my arm ached because something strong gripped it. This 'something' turned out to be Joren, who was still unconscious. I punched him in the stomach, and he groaned, slowly opened his eyes (which presently widened crazily in wonderment), and jumped up, finally releasing his death-grip on my arm.

Getting up from my very uncomfortable position on the ground, I stretched out my arms and looked around at my surroundings, recognizing them immediately. We were standing right at the spot where I had originally found the amulet, right near my house. Silently, I wondered how much time had passed since I had left from home; this thought brought me to another very disturbing one: how much time had passed in Tortall since we had left? For all I knew, Sarah could already be long dead. However, I knew that it was best to not even think about that... right now I needed to only worry about what to do next. For instance, right next to me, Joren was already getting in a huff about what I had done.

"Lauren! What were you thinking?! Do you know that you just ruined my chance for becoming a knight?"

I snorted at that. "Joren, do you know that I probably just saved your life?" I said, mimicking his angered voice. "You should be thankful for what I did; with your attitude, no wonder the Chamber killed you in the books. Now, get over your little hissy-fit. There's nothing we can do about your precious ordeal at the moment."

This seemed to shut him up for a moment, but he still looked angry, so I took the opportunity and continued. "If you didn't notice, which I'm guessing you didn't, we aren't in Tortall anymore. We're on Earth; this is my world, so just shut up for the time being while I try to sort through my befuddled thoughts and decide what to do next."

I started leading the ice-prince through the woods till we came to the clearing where my house was located. Deciding that it would be best if my parents did not meet Joren until later, I started to climb the tree that was near my window. Upon entering my room through the window, I realized that Joren was still on the ground. I let out an exasperated sigh and whispered loudly to him. "Climb up the tree, you idiot!"

He rolled his eyes and climbed up and entered my room. I thanked God that I always left my window open for the times that I escaped to visit Sarah. I turned to Joren to see him looking around my room with amusement written all over his face. My temper started to boil at his mocking look. Of course, my room probably looked odd to someone who wasn't even from this world. I had a computer by one wall with a British flag behind it, a few white dressers scattered at different corners of the room, and my bed opposite the computer. My walls were covered with pictures of Tom Felton, Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, and Johhny Depp. There was a large poster of Legolas on the wall opposite the flag. I smacked Joren on the shoulder to vent my anger and frustration.

All of a sudden, I heard footsteps coming toward my room, so I shoved Joren in my closet and jumped on my bed and landed in what I hoped was a natural position. My door opened and my mother peered in. A look of relief covered her face, and she ran over to me and clasped me in a tight hug.

When she finally got over her little sappy moment, she started to get angry at me. "Where were you? We've had people looking for you for hours!" This answered my question as to how long we had been gone.

I quickly came up with an excuse; if I told her about where I had actually been, I would be sent to some hospital ward for the mentally ill. "I was heading toward Sarah's house, but I tripped over a root and hit my head hard on the ground and must have passed out." Fortunately, I had a few scratches and bruises appearing on my face from my fall here which made my story seem reasonable. My mother seemed to accept my story, so she stopped berating me and left to call people to tell them that I was alright. I wondered how people would react to Sarah's disappearance.

As soon as my mother left, Joren came out of the closet and looked as if he were going to rip me apart, limb by limb. Unfortunately, I felt as if I was going to fall apart already from weariness and exhaustion, so I just pulled the blankets from my bed over my body and pretended to fall asleep (with fake snoring and all). Then I told him, "You'll be sleeping in the closet."

He let out what sounded suspiciously like a growl. "I don't appreciate being insulted like this, Lauren."

"Frankly, I really don't care, Joren. If you want to get caught and then put in an asylum, it's fine with me. I won't defend you. I've already done enough for you as it is. So, Your Highness, the choice is all yours." I sat up and looked at him; he still looked angry, but I guess he trusted my judgment as to what to do (wow, that was a first). After all, this was my world and he knew nothing about it. He grumbled and walked back into my closet (which was thankfully empty and spacious; I never really used it), grumbling all the way. I felt slightly bad for him, so I threw one of my blankets in his direction. "You might want that; nights are very cold here."

He grunted, which must have been a 'thank you' in his own feral language. I smiled slightly and fell asleep.

_~ * ~_

I woke up and was slightly surprised to see my old room. Stretching, I looked around and smiled at the room that I had not seen for a long time until yesterday. Glancing toward the closet, I saw that Joren was still asleep. A devilish grin appeared on my face as I walked over to where he lay. For a moment, I just stood there, looking at his sleeping form, which seemed surprisingly angelic. However, I was not fooled by this, so I gave a small kick at his head. He jumped up and I immediately knew that I had done the wrong thing; this guy was trained for war, and he could easily break my bones. On instinct, without looking at me, he grabbed my foot and twisted. I literally went flying (A/N: I know this is physically impossible, but it happens in all those martial arts movies).

I groaned and looked up at him; he was leaning against the wall and _chuckling_. The nerve of him! I sent him a dirty look and started to stand up. Suddenly, his face took on an expression of anger, and I wondered what provoked the sudden change of mood.

"Never wake me up like that!" he told me. When I gave a very immature snort, he continued. "Next time, you'll regret it when you lying in pain in a puddle of your own blood!"

"Don't you think that's just the slightest bit severe, Joren? I mean, I only tapped you on the head."

"_Tapped_?!" His voice held barely controlled anger. "That was a bloody punt! What were you trying to do? Kick my head off?!"

"Come on, Grumpy. Let's get some breakfast. We only have a limited amount of time until my mother returns."

~ * ~

_A/N: Now, REVIEW!!!! I need to get lots of reviews in order to write the next chapter. Writing looses its appeal when no one reviews. Sorry that this chapter was so short, but I plan to make the next one long. REVIEW!_

_~ME_


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